Apple's iTunes Music Store revolutionized the music business in 2003, giving artists and labels a new way to sell music without having to worry about distribution.  Since then, Apple's MP3 service has faced stiffer competition, including that from Internet radio companies like Pandora and Spotify.  For iTunes first 10 years in operation, Apple enjoyed higher sales each and every quarter, coinciding with falling album sales.  The latest quarterly figures from Nielsen SoundScan show, however, that the trend has finally come to an end.  The report shows that digital song sales fell 5.7 percent from the 3rd quarter of 2013 to the 4th, while album sales fell 0.1 percent.

While a variety of factors likely have an impact on the decline in digital music sales last quarter, most insiders agree that the primary cause is the increasing popularity of streaming music services.   Making matters worse for Apple and musicians, experts are expecting the trend to continue into the new year.  The streaming market is continuing to expand and improve, with YouTube set to launch a streaming product this year and Apple working on its own iTunes Radio service as well.